An Extended Conversation
by rememories
Summary: The music is playing, but nobodies can’t sing. The words are lost on them, the emotions hold no meaning, and if they didn’t care so much, none of it would really matter. [Axel x Naminé ] OneShot


**Disclaimer: **Kingdom Hearts is copyrighted Square Enix and Disney.

**a/n: **This was originally based off a scene in the novel, but then it kinda went off on a tangent and we got this instead. I'm pretty happy with it. For me, it was mostly a dialogue exercise. Wow, Axel turned out really volatile in this. First he's sarcastic, then angry, then...

**An Extended Conversation**

"Bravo, bravo!" Axel clapped as he walked toward her and abruptly slapped his hands down on the roof's edge. "Is it not a grand show?"

"What do you plan to do?" Naminé asked, turning to him. Was that anger he perceived? Had she grown a spine in all that time?

"What I've always done: shove a wrench in the system and watch it all fall apart," he said and then grinned, assuming a more comfortable position from which to watch the proceedings. Because really, what a show it was! "Where are your binoculars?" He asked her, pleased with the confused look she gave him.

"Are you calling me a stalker?" Still, Naminé was leaning forward, attempting to see the situation better. "I'm looking after him."

He leaned forward as well, following her movements. "I didn't say anything about stalking, o guardian angel. But how do you expect to enjoy the opera that way?"

"Opera?"

"Yes, opera. Can't you hear the music?" He leaned back and moved his arms up and down like a conductor. Three/four time now, pick up the pace! His nobodies advanced on the boy below.

Naminé didn't seem to be nearly as happy as Axel. Her eyes widened as Roxas took a blow that sent him sprawling across the pavement. She turned to Axel, her expression clearly conveying the question she wanted to ask

His eyes narrowed at her. He said, "Oh, it won't be over, not till the fat lady sings, anyway. Or maybe…" Axel reached his arm out, raising his invisible baton to tap her on the nose. "Maybe, it'll be an uncaged bird who sings. What about it, Naminé, will you sing for him? Do you know what to sing?" Naminé remained silent, her gaze fixed on the street below.

Axel sighed, disappointed by her dismissal of his offer. Really, how cold. "We could have been good friends, you and I," he said finally.

"Like you were with Marluxia and Larxene?" She had turned to him now, her hands fisted, shaking, on the lip of the roof.

This small action put a frown on his face. Now, didn't they have enough history between them that she didn't have to be afraid of him? Heh, guess not.

"You'd still say that? After all I did for you?" he asked.

"Sora saved me. From Marluxia—and you." Naminé's tone was harsh, but her hands betrayed her, still shaking upon the edge of the roof. Or was it not fear?

It took him a moment to realize what she meant, and when he did he laughed like he had just understood the punchline to a joke.

"Oh, so that's it. I never saw you as the type of person to hold a grudge, Naminé." The glare she gave him was making him uncomfortable, so he turned his attentions to the street, just as Naminé had done earlier. Hm, the kid was gonna be a goner if somebody didn't sing soon. Too bad that somebody was only a nobody, like himself. The condescending tone left his voice as he said, "I did what I had to do then. I do what I have to do now." He turned back to her.

"And so do I," she said sternly, raising her chin to look him straight in the eyes.

Now _that_ came as a shock to him. So, she really had grown a spine. He stared at her for several moments, before flexing his fingers, letting them dance to the tune of his fury, foretelling of what they could do—would do—in the near future.

"I didn't hesitate then, and I won't hesitate now. Your hero is sleeping. What will he do without his silent princess to wake him?" He raised his arms with a taunting slowness. More noise could be heard from below, as Roxas tried desperately to fight back against the nobodies surrounding him. From the sound of it, he was losing.

"Roxas," she murmured, he eyes glancing to the side, though she didn't dare turn around to look. That one word made him falter, and he stopped his arms where they were, resting in the air. "What do you want with him?"

"I want to take him away from here. He shouldn't have left in the first place," Axel said, lowering his arms now. Even so, his anger was still evident.

"Is that's what's best for Roxas? Or…" She took a shaking breath. "Or is that what's best for you, Axel?"

"What's best for me?" He said sharply, reaching forward to grab her shoulders. He pushed her back till she was nearly leaning over the roof. "I'm trying to help him! You're the one that's bringing him pain!" She gasped and raised her hands, turning her face to the side. Her eyes were squeezed shut.

"I don't want him to fade away," she said, tears forming at the edges of her eyelids as she squeezed them tighter.

"Is that really all you can come up with?" But the anger had left Axel's voice now. Why did she have to show concern for _him_? It just made things more complicated. Was he growing soft, or was it because of Roxas? He didn't know anymore.

"He can be whole this way." Naminé opened her eyes cautiously and looked up at him. His grip loosened. Her words were really getting to him. Heh, maybe he had grown soft. He let her go of her shoulders and she stumbled forward, gasping all the while and holding a hand to where her heart should be. _Should be_.

Axel caught her before she could fall. It was purely by chance, of course, as he would reflect later. She was breathing heavily, her eyes wide with fear. Had she thought that she was going to die? Did she see her life flash before her eyes? What life did she have?

He cupped his hand over hers, over the hollow in her chest. "We can't give him that, can we?" He ran a finger over her knuckles, a soothing motion that he didn't know he was capable of. Apparently neither did Naminé, since she was watching his motions intently, her thick lashes hiding her eyes from him as she looked down at their hands.

Her breathing calmed, she shook her head and in a soft voice said, "No, only Sora can."

He didn't answer her at first, continuing to run his fingers over hers. Finally, Axel opened his mouth to say something, before closing it and swallowing. He nodded and pulled away from her. As he did so she grabbed his hand and squeezed it one time before letting go.

He stared at her, for once finding himself at a loss at what to say. It was only when he turned away from her and began walking that he found the words he sought. "You better tell him to use that keyblade of his, since neither of us wants him killed."

Axel didn't have to look to know that she was watching him. Then he heard a rustle; she was turning back to the scene below—to Roxas. He heard her call out.

"Roxas! Use the Keyblade!"

It wasn't a song, or any kind of singing, really, but it would do.


End file.
